DILI (UCAN) -- The Timor Leste Church hopes justice will be done in the
trial of 28 people accused of trying to kill the country's president and
prime minister in 2008.

President Jose Ramos-Horta required emergency surgery after being shot
outside his home, but Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unhurt when
gunmen opened fire on his car.

The first trial sessions were held July 13-16 under tight security in a
Dili court.

The accused are Gastao Salsinha, other former Timor Leste
soldiers-turned-rebels and Angelita Pires, an East Timor-born Australian
citizen accused of masterminding the attacks. Charges range from attempted
murder to conspiracy to murder.

Prosecutors allege that Pires planned the assassination attempts. She
was in a relationship with rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed in
the attack on President Ramos-Horta.

Pires strongly denies the charges and insists she is the victim of a
conspiracy.

Salsinha took over as rebel chief after Reinado's death and is accused
of leading the attack on Gusmao. He also has pleaded not guilty.

The attacks on the country's leaders came against the background of
lingering Communal violence, which erupted in mid-2006 following the
dismissal of more than one-third of the country's army. The dismissed
soldiers, from the western part of the country, claim they were victims of
discrimination. Salsinha was among them.

Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili, in his Sunday Mass homily on
July 19 at Motael church, said the Church believes justice should be seen
to be done.

"People of this country want to live in peace, and justice is the
path to the truth. If there is no justice, there will be no progress in
the development," the bishop said.

Father Jose Maia, parish priest of Immaculate Conception Cathedral in
Dili, told UCA News the trial is very sensitive and could have a great
impact.

He raised the possibility of Salsinha revealing a political plot behind
the mass dismissal of soldiers in 2006.

"It was merely politics. Actually there was no split in westerners
and easterners," he told UCA News. "People from east and west
are all Timorese. Culturally they are family. It is just politics of power
that was the motive."

Based on testimony at the trial, he said, some political leaders
"might lose their power, and Gastao Salsinha and his group might
become heroes of the people."